DIVPatricia Reilly Giff (b. 1935) grew up in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of the popular Polk Street Mystery series, as well as several award-winning novels for middle-grade readers. After graduating from Marymount College, Giff taught reading for twenty years before writing her first novel. Many of her books are ALA-ALSC Notable ChildrenтАЩs Books and ALA-YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, including LilyтАЩs Crossing and Pictures of Hollis Woods, for which Giff won Newbery Honors. Giff lives in Weston, Connecticut, with her husband./divDIV┬а/divBlanche Sims was born in Cleveland, Ohio.┬аShe has worked as an illustrator for young peopleтАЩs art at Famous Artists School and later at Xerox in the art department. Then she became a childrenтАЩs book illustrator. Among the many books she has illustrated is the Polk Street series.┬аSims lives in Sandy Hook, CT.